Submission

The SARRAH 2018 Conference Organising Committee invites you to submit an abstract for presentations that address the conference theme ‘Changing Landscapes, Changing Lives’.

The modern healthcare landscape is undergoing massive and rapid changes that impact on both health professionals and the people who use the health system. Changes are driven by people’s needs, technological development, research outcomes, workforce availability, political stances, policy frameworks and fiscal priorities. At the same time, health services in rural and remote areas are situated in ancient geographical landscapes that are ever changing as a result of human influence and natural events. The delivery of services by allied health professionals is underpinned by the drive to improve quality of life and quality of services.

The SARRAH conference theme invites abstracts that relate to the theme of change. The context for change might be

Workforce

Training and professional development

Needs of Specific consumers or consumer groups

Service delivery models

Policy development, implementation and impact

Clinical practices and service delivery

Health economics and financing

Community engagement

Rural generalism

Interprofessional practice, training, education

Cross cultural service provision

Aboriginal health

Technology and digital health systems

8th February 2018

Call for Abstracts/Papers Open

Registration Open

Closed

Call for Abstracts/Papers Closes

6th June 2018

Notification of Results

11th July 2018

First draft of Refereed Papers due

Provisional Program released

Presenter Registrations due

Accepted submissions will not be confirmed in the program until at least one presenting author is registered for the conference.

Presentation Formats

We invite you to submit abstracts in the formats below. While you will be asked to indicate your preferred presentation format when submitting your abstract, the Committee may request an alternative format be considered. The Committee will allocate the format of presentations, taking into account the preference of authors and the balance of the program.

Written paper before the Conference plus oral presentation at the Conference, published after conference.

(10 minute presentation + 5 minutes questions)

The peer reviewed scientific stream will again be offered at the 2018 National SARRAH Conference. Authors submitting in this stream will have their papers peer reviewed and will be required to write a full paper prior to the conference. Scientific stream refereed papers will be clearly identified as such on the Conference Program and in the Delegate App to assist their authors to obtain academic points. Authors of scientific stream peer reviewed papers may choose to submit their paper for publication to the Australian Journal of Rural Health, or another journal of their choice, or to be published on the SARRAH website as part of the conference proceedings, clearly identified as peer reviewed papers.

Lightning talks are a short presentation format designed to enable the audience to review as many potentially exciting ideas as possible in a short space of time. The format suits image based presentations that inspire the audience to seek out more information about your topic rather than text based presentations that provide detail information. The purpose of a Lighting Talk is to articulate a topic in a quick, clear and insightful manner. The presenter has a maximum 5 minutes to deliver one or two key messages and so it is recommended the presenter uses only 3-5 slides. The 5 minute time slot should ensure presenters are on point, succinct in their delivery but at the same time creative with their content.

Posters will be displayed electronically. Electronic posters will be prepared in PowerPoint and displayed for the duration of the conference on the Delegate App and on large flat screen monitors in the exhibition and catering area (using a widescreen 16:9 format). The posters will rotate automatically and each poster will be shown for one minute. Delegates will be able to pause individual posters to view them in more detail.

Handy tips on writing abstracts for conference

If you are interested in submitting an abstract for the upcoming SARRAH conference and need some tips on writing a great abstract, here is something that might help you. Dr Saravana Kumar, the Scientific Convenor, has provided his expert tips on this very topic. You can watch his video presentation below.

Submissions

Authors are invited to submit abstracts of 250 words. All submissions, including ePoster and Refereed Papers initially require a written abstract to be submitted. Once accepted you can then write your full paper or design your ePoster slide using the templates provided.

All abstracts are to be submitted electronically via the PRESENTATION PORTAL. Presenters will be notified by email to confirm acceptance and format of their presentation. If you have any queries please contact Conference Design by email at mail@conferencedesign.com.au.

Review Process

All abstracts will undergo a blind peer review process by the program committee. The program committee will allocate abstracts to the program taking into account the quality of each abstract and the balance of the program.

Submission Procedure

Enter Presenter and Author details
Enter names and affiliations of the presenter and authors. Also enter brief biography of the presenter(s), 100 words is sufficient.

Enter your abstract details‘Cut and Paste’ the abstract text 250 words and into the relevant field in the Presentation Portal.

Abstract Details

For each abstract you submit you will be asked to enter the following information:

Presentation title

Preferred presentation format

Preferred theme

Name/s of author/s

Affiliation/s of author/s

Indicate the presenter(s)

Short biography of the presenter(s)

Title

A descriptive presentation title of a up to fifteen words; please only capitalise the first word and proper nouns in your title.

Authors

The names, professions, organisations, suburbs, states and email addresses (optional) for each author. Indicate the presenting author in bold.

Abstract

An abstract of 250 words that provides sufficient details to assess the content of your proposed presentation.

Presentation Files

Video and audio clips should be embedded in your Power Point slides rather than linking to external files.

Presenters will take their Power Point slides to the conference on a memory stick, where an audiovisual technician will load your presentation.

All slides will be run from a central presentation computer. However, if you have a complex presentation, which includes multiple media files, we suggest you bring your own laptop as a backup in case of difficulties loading your presentation.

Presenters Registration

All presenters will be required to register for the conference and pay the appropriate registration fee. Presenters also need to meet their own travel and accommodation costs.

Audiovisual Equipment

Each lecture room will be equipped for the presentation of Power Point slides and include a data projector, computer (with external speakers), lectern and microphone. Other audiovisual aids, such as Overhead Projectors, are not available